YouTube and Facebook top Social Media choices for US adults

New York: Social media platforms YouTube and Facebook are the most used online platforms among US adults, according to a report on Thursday.

The findings, by Pew Research Center, showed that about eight-in-ten US adults (83 per cent) report ever using YouTube.

Facebook with 68 per cent user base is also a dominant player in the online landscape, while 47 per cent US adults said they use Instagram. Recent Centre findings also show that YouTube also dominates the social media landscape among US teenagers.

“YouTube and Facebook are the only two platforms that majorities of all age groups use. That said, there is still a large age gap between the youngest and oldest adults when it comes to use of YouTube. The age gap for Facebook, though, is much smaller,” said Jeffrey Gottfried, Associate Director of research at Pew Research Center, in the report.

The findings, based on a survey of 5,733 US adults conducted in May-September, 2023, showed that TikTok — which some Congress members previously called to ban — saw growth in its user base since 2021.

A third of US adults (33 per cent) use the video-based platform, up 12 percentage points from 2021 (21 per cent).

About 27 per cent to 35 per cent of US adults also use Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Snapchat.

In addition, about one-in-five also shared they use X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit.

Further, the report found stark age differences among users of Instagram (78 per cent), Snapchat (65 per cent) and TikTok (62 per cent) — platforms that are used by majorities of adults under 30.

“Americans ages 30 to 49 stand out for using three of the platforms – LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Facebook – at higher rates. For instance, 40 per cent of this age group uses LinkedIn, higher than the roughly three-in-ten among those ages 18 to 29 and 50 to 64. And just 12 per cent of those 65 and older say the same,” Gottfried said.

The report also showed that women were more likely to use Pinterest (50 per cent vs. 19 per cent), TikTok (40 per cent vs. 25 per cent) and Instagram (54 per cent vs 39 per cent) than men.